Dennis Kennedy, Lawyers Weekly USA
columnist and publisher of his own excellent legal
technology newsletter, invited a number of people to polish off their crystal balls
and make some law office technology predictions for 1999. His query prompted me to start
thinking about the effects the Internet will have on the practice of law. Here is what I
saw in the tea leaves:

A few lawyers will (mistakenly) urge their firms to their drop Westlaw/Lexis
accounts in favor of the Internet.

Sometimes when a pendulum swings, it goes
too far.

Just a few years ago, most lawyers were not willing to trust the Internet at all for
research. Now some lawyers have begun to pressure law librarians to drop expensive
commercial services and rely only on the Internet. This makes no more sense than the
earlier reluctance to use the Internet at all. The Internet is not "better" than
Westlaw and Lexis. It is DIFFERENT.

An Internet connection will open up new research avenues (particularly for factual
research) and it may let you reduce your Westlaw/Lexis expenses, but the Internet is not
yet close to being a complete replacement for the commercial services.

Virtual communities will come to be seen as a mainstream business use.

1998
was a "breakthrough" year for electronic commerce. Sales from web sites became a
significant factor in the marketplace for the first time. A critical mass of people
finally realized that there were benefits to electronic commerce, and began using it.
While online sales were still a fraction of the overall sales total in 1998, electronic
commerce transitioned from "exotic" to "mainstream."

I believe that this year, in a similar fashion, the value of online communities will
become apparent to more than the relatively small number of legal and other professionals
who have caught on so far. Online communities will come to be seen as an important
business use of the Internet, instead of just something for "webheads" and
teenagers on AOL.

Most lawyers who use the World Wide Web conceive of it as static web sites. These
certainly have value, but there are unique benefits to be gained from interactive sites. A
few organizations, like ATLA and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers,
have such sites, and we will see more static web sites transformed into online communities
over the next year. More law firms will use intranets and extranets for internal
communications and client service.

As this shift in understanding from what can be done via the Internet (static sites vs.
virtual communities) occurs, it will have a much more important impact than electronic
commerce on the way we practice law.

Knowing how to use encryption will become a new marketing tool for lawyers.

Sophisticated clients will not be lulled into a false sense of security by bar
association opinions that say using e-mail does not automatically waive the
attorney/client privilege. Knowledgeable clients realize that confidential information can
be used to damage someone in ways that make attorney/client privilege rules irrelevant.

Further, e-mail snooping is attractive to those inclined to illicit activity: new
software makes it much more cost efficient than voice wiretapping. It is also immeasurably
safer. E-mail snoops are seldom even detected, let alone caught and prosecuted.

Attorneys who also understand the risks will give their clients the option for secure
communications by encryption. Such attorneys will be more attractive to clients who like
to use the Internet, especially those whose cases regularly involve large amounts of
money.

Here are some of the writers about the future of the Internet that I have found most
useful:

Books:

Larry Downes and Chunka Mui, Unleashing the Killer App: Digital
Strategies for Market Dominance, (Harvard Business School Press 1998). This is a lousy
title but an exceptional book. The title sounds like it is a book for software designers,
but it is actually a thoughtful examination of the ways modern technology has changed, and
will change, commerce.

Esther Dyson, Release 2.0: A Design For Living In The Digital Age
(Broadway Books 1997). Daughter of the innovative physicist Freeman Dyson, the author
inherited her father's talent for questioning assumptions. Through 11 chapters, she
analyzes the Internet's effect on intellectual property, education, governance,
communities and more.

John Hagel III and Arthur G. Armstrong, net.gain (Harvard
Business School Press 1997). An influential book about virtual communities on the
Internet.

Frances Cairncross, The Death of Distance: How the Communications
Revolution Will Change Our Lives (Harvard Business School Press 1997). A senior editor
of The Economist offers insightful analysis of the impact of new communications
technology, including the Internet, on society.